


In From the Snow

by thetomkatwholived



Series: Roots in My Dreamland [1]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Snow, neighbors to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetomkatwholived/pseuds/thetomkatwholived
Summary: Stevie knew how to shovel, but David wasn’t yet desperate enough to ask her, not ready to be taunted so early in the morning.Maybe the snow would melt on its own. Maybe a sudden and intense heat wave would breeze through, do away with all the snow, and make a hasty exit.Oh god, was he supposed to shovel down or across? Did it matter? The last thing he needed was their hot neighbor seeing him shovel the driveway incorrectly.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Series: Roots in My Dreamland [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137029
Comments: 20
Kudos: 181





	In From the Snow

**Author's Note:**

> This came out of me having to shovel my driveway today and not anticipating the 2+ feet high snow I'd have to move. My neighbor did help, but it was not a meet cute, merely a moment of neighborly kindness. Anyway, I thought of this dumb little idea as we worked to clear my driveway and now here it is. I didn't have anyone else look at this, so if it's riddled with typos and not that good, that's all on me. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title from ivy by Taylor Swift.

David wasn’t sure how he had been saddled with this particular job. Renting a house with Stevie and Alexis had seemed like a great idea; it would get him and Alexis out of the motel, and rent was significantly cheaper split three ways. What didn’t turn out to be so great was the concept of chores. And not just the concept, the actual practice. Ray, their landlord, would fix major issues, but a lot got left to them, in exchange for a cheaper rent. 

So that is how David found himself here, snow shovel in hand, bundled up in clothes that were certainly more fashion than function, and thoroughly perplexed on how to even start.

It was early, much earlier than David would have liked, but both he and Stevie would need to get to work somehow. Alexis was able to con Ted into giving her a ride to work, even though he lived above the vet clinic and had no commute otherwise. And since Stevie had gotten weirdly good at fixing plumbing problems that arose, David was forced to pull his weight this way.

There wasn’t a lot of snow, at least in terms of height. Probably just enough to make it impossible to drive through it without some assistance. David’s boots were decidedly unfit for this job, wetness already seeping in and making his feet cold.

He shifted the shovel to his other hand, surveying the area. Their driveway wasn’t particularly long, but when faced with his task, it seemed to stretch on for miles.

How was he supposed to hold this shovel? Was his dominant hand supposed to hold the handle at the top? No, that couldn’t be it, it probably was supposed to grasp closer to the shovel-y bit for leverage or whatever. Yeah, that felt right. Was he supposed to bend at the knees or the waist? Both hurt.

Stevie knew how to shovel, but David wasn’t yet desperate enough to ask her, not ready to be taunted so early in the morning.

Maybe the snow would melt on its own. Maybe a sudden and intense heat wave would breeze through, do away with all the snow, and then make a hasty exit.

Oh god, was he supposed to shovel down or across? Did it matter? The last thing he needed was their hot neighbor seeing him shovel the driveway incorrectly.

Patrick Brewer lived next door, presumably also renting his place from Ray, with whom he worked. Ray apparently had too many businesses to manage on his own, hiring Patrick back in the summer to oversee them and deal with some of the things he didn’t have time to handle. He’d been the only one to welcome the three to the neighborhood, showing up their second day in the house with a bottle of wine and the most devastating smile David had ever seen. 

They’d invited him in that night, insisting he share the wine with them, but he’d politely declined, mumbling about not wanting to intrude. Despite numerous efforts to have him over in the following months, he’d never taken them up on it. But sometimes, he would join them at the cafe for dinner and always made it a point to visit David at the store whenever he could. 

Stevie and Alexis were convinced Patrick liked him, but David wasn’t so sure. Everything about him seemed so put together and stable, which, in David’s experience, was not the kind of person he attracted. The only reason Patrick wasn’t visiting Stevie or Alexis at work was just the environment; the store was a place to gather and casually chat, whereas the motel and the vet clinic were not. And Patrick wasn’t going out of his way because he was only visiting when he was in the area. Which, okay, sure, was becoming at least three times a week, but he had a lot of business at town hall and the cafe was the most convenient place to get food in the middle of the day.

The point was, Patrick was hot and their neighbor and not interested in David, at least not in the way David was interested in Patrick. And David didn’t want Patrick to see him failing at a basic task.

He’d committed to a method: bend at the waist, shovel across. Whether that was correct or not didn’t matter at this point, as he was already cutting it close to his opening time. As he braced himself to make the first scoop, a voice rang out.

“Need any help?”

David paused, shutting his eyes and wondering what he had done in a previous life to end up in this position. He breathed out, opening his eyes and turning to Patrick. “Um, nope, all good over here. Just… shoveling.” He waved the shovel awkwardly to emphasize his point.

“No, yeah, I can see that. But don’t you have to open your store kind of soon? I’m not sure you can get that all shoveled in time.”

“Um, well, I’m going to have to.” David normally loved how sincere and helpful Patrick was, always taking him up on offers to help with the store’s finances. But right now, he just needed Patrick to not look at him.

Somehow, Patrick was now standing next to David, his tracks disturbing the otherwise untouched snow between their two houses. Was Patrick some kind of snow nymph? If he were some kind of mythical woodland creature, that would explain his seemingly inexplicable hotness.

Patrick placed a gloved hand over David’s gloved hand on the handle. “I’m not trying to stress you out or make fun of you or anything. I have a snowblower and would be happy to clear out your driveway for you.”

Even through the layers of gloves, David’s hand burned and ached to make more substantial contact with Patrick. He pushed it aside. Not the time! “Um, that’s very nice of you. But I can’t really… offer anything in return. So…”

While Patrick’s mouth curved downward, he was unmistakably smiling. Huh. He must be some kind of fictional hot person. “David, I’m not asking for any kind of trade. I just want to help you clear your driveway.”

David wasn’t used to someone offering something like this with no ulterior motive, but he was not going to question it. “Okay, then yes, I would very much like it if you could help me.”

Softly, Patrick replied with a “great” and turned to head back over to his house.

Just as David was about to move out of the driveway, he saw Patrick turn back around, a determined look overtaking his face. “No, I… This wouldn’t be like a dealbreaker, I’ll still clear your driveway, but I… if you wanted to pay me back in some way…”

When Patrick trailed off, David prompted: “What did you have in mind?”

“You could let me take you to dinner?” Patrick winced, the request obviously coming out far less confident than he had hoped.

David was surprised and delighted, and, as a result, a small smile pushed to one side of his face. “So you want to clear my driveway and then buy me dinner? I feel like I’m the only one getting something out of this deal.”

Patrick huffed out a small laugh. “I guess it sounds that way, huh? But I’m actually trying to ask you on a date.” Before David could give his enthusiastic acceptance, Patrick plowed on, “But like I said, I will help you either way. I don’t want you to feel like you have to go out with me just so I’ll do this. I just didn’t want to keep letting moments pass and I --”

As Patrick rambled, David had followed his tracks in the snow so he was now standing in front of him. He placed a hand on Patrick’s shoulder to silence him. “Please take me on a date.”

If David thought Patrick’s smile was devastating before, it couldn’t even compare to the one that spread across his face at David’s words. “I’ve been trying to pluck up the courage to ask for so long.”

“So all those times you visited me at the store…?”

“David, I have had one meeting at town hall in the past two months, and I rarely eat at the cafe. I was making the trips to see you.”

“No, yeah, that makes sense.” David rubbed a gloved hand over his mouth to try to hide his smile. “Um, as much as I would love to bask in all of this, I do have to leave soon so…”

Patrick gave a sharp nod. “Right. Yes. I will be right back. And, um, I’ll stop by the store later so we can plan our, um, date.” While Patrick’s cheeks were already pink from cold, David could have sworn they darkened just a bit more.

“Perfect.”

So yeah, David didn’t actually end up having to shovel the driveway, but he spent a lot of time thinking about it and even had a false start. Stevie had volunteered to learn the plumbing, it wasn’t his fault she was weirdly good at it. He’d find another chore to take on. In the meantime, he had to prepare for a date.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to find me on Tumblr at [theswiftiewholived](https://theswiftiewholived.tumblr.com/)! Also, please tell me the proper way to shovel snow. Bending at the waist seems like the right way, but my back hurts now.


End file.
